The Missing Toy

"Vroooooooooooom……vroooooooom……." curdled Mitesh.

Playing with his toy cars on the kitchen slab, he giggled with joy, as the spring-loaded toy cars made the sound he was trying to imitate.

"Vrooooooooom…….."

Teeheeheeheehee.

He was having so much fun, laughing, yelling, clapping. He was just a 4-year old.

"Vroom, vroom, vrooooooom……"

"MITEEEESHHHHHHH!"

He heard his mother call him upstairs to the room where his grandmother and grandfather stayed.

"Yesssss…….mummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy………….."

He got off the kitchen slab and went upstairs running with joy. He played with his grandparents for some time and went downstairs to resume playing with his cars. He went to the kitchen to look for them and saw nothing there.

He stood still as if something had broken inside him, as he was just a kid and he loved those toys, he ran off crying to his mother.

"MUMMY!!!! MUMMY!!! WHERE'RE MY TOYS? WHERE'RE MY TOYS?"

"I don't know baby. Play with something else."

"NO. I WANT MY TOY CARS ONLY."

He looked around all day, but was unable to find them. His toys had gone missing.

*

Mitesh had been to a boarding school. He had made friends with a girl named Neha. Both were quite fond of each other. They met each other on every 2nd Saturday of each month, whenever they were allowed to visit the town.

They would eat their favourite Rajma Chawal from the Embassy restaurant. And walk in the cool breeze of the town for some time, holding hands.

It was a beautiful time, not meant to last for long, one day Neha got hit by a car on the road, she got admitted to a hospital, that was the last time he ever saw her. He would leave school the next week, never to return.

*

Mitesh was in college, he had joined a gym to get fit and look better. Within 2 months he fell in love with Sonia, a joviant girl with a jolly nature. She became his best friend and confidante. She knew everything about him except the fact that he loved her. One day he told her, she rejected him by saying that she was not ready. He waited for her for some months, transformed himself completely, got a job, to qualify for her. She said yes, but within a month left him saying that she was still in love with her ex.

*

When Mitesh was in love with Sonia and with her, he met Linda a girl who was his client. She liked him and wanted to be with him. He got a little friendly with Linda, she dropped many hints, but he could not understand them, he was too innocent as he had never hit on girls, he let her slip because of his naivety. 2 years after getting separated from Sonia, he realised everything that had happened when he was friends with Linda. Now, she had changed, didn't reply to his messages, didn't consider him important ignored him. That was the time when he finally gave up and decided to be alone.

He looked up at the ceiling of his room, clenched his fists, trying to bottle his emotions, but they were too much, everything came back out at once, his rage, his grief, his despair, his hopelessness, he felt his nails dig into his skin, it almost felt like they had pierced his skin. As if blood would flow out.

Finally, he let himself feel all of it, the pain, the pity, he let it flow, tears welled out in his eyes and he shouted out loud," MUMMY!!!! MUMMY!!! WHERE'RE MY TOYS? WHERE'RE MY TOYS?"

But there was no one there to comfort him. He was all alone.